The pasta course of a recent dinner at my favorite Italian restaurant in Amsterdam, Bussia, was spaghettini (angel hair spaghetti) with a spicy ragù of venison and crunchy red bell pepper. I really liked the combination of flavors, and it inspired me to create this pasta dish as well as a venison stew about which I will post soon. It is not a classic Italian dish (at least not that I have ever heard of), but it is in Italian style. The use of paprika gives it a touch of Hungary as well.

I started the ragù with cubed meat rather than ground meat since I was making the stew and the ragù at the same time. If you are only making the ragù, you could also grind the meat before browning it. You could then omit the flour and season the meat with salt and paprika after browning it. If using ground meat, do not cover the pan while simmering to avoid ending up with a ragù that is too thin.

I love venison. It’s one of my favorite meats. Unfortunately, it is not readily available in the US unless you’re a hunter. We are beginning to see some markets carrying Elk but it is pricey and only available at specialty markets. As a result, I typically will substitute lamb for recipes calling for venison. The recipe looks and sounds wonderful. I love that it is a dual purpose recipe depending upon your mood and palate for the evening. Nicely done, Stefan.

Rural US has doesn’t have the greatest variety and chicken and beef are the proteins of choice over here. Also, people generally don’t really like lamb, goat, veal, duck, etc. For a large number of families, meals consist of meat (typically beef) and potatoes.

I forgot to mention pork, which was also available.
Goat is not very common around here, but I’ve never looked for it so it may be easier than I think.
Lamb, veal, duck, hare, rabbit, guinea fowl, partridge, venison, roe deer venison, goose, wild boar, quail, pigeon, pheasant, etc. are all easily available here (some depending on the hunting season of course).
You and the Baby Lady are welcome for another episode of Food Blogging Without Boundaries if you’d like to come prepare and eat some or all of them 🙂

Thanks, Stefan. We would love to visit the Netherlands but it needs to be in the heat of the summer because we’re warm weather people and the winters in the Netherlands would probably be a little too much, especially for my little El Paso girl, the Baby Lady. 😉

Even in summer I can’t guarantee it will be over 70 degrees and it’s unlikely to be 80 or above (unless you are lucky). That’s not the worst problem though, it may also rain. Oh well, it would be about the food and great company 🙂

I agree with Richard. Venison just isn’t available here. In my youth, we seemed to have it often but, then again, Dad was a hunter and his friends always brought some to us. This is a good recipe, though, Stefan. Red peppers make a great sauce and using lamb in place of the venison, as Richard suggests, is a good substitution.

Thanks for the nice compliment. I also agree on the lamb, which would make it close to a dish from Abruzzo (Agnello coi Peperoni) that I should blog about at some point, too.
I am surprised venison is not even available in Chicago. If the craving hits, you can always come over for another episode of Food Blogging Without Boundaries” 🙂

Thank you for sharing, this sounds like a lovely recipe. I have some venison in the freezer at the moment and this seems like a perfect way to use it (I will look forward to seeing the stew recipe too!).